Edit: Apparently leaving people to stew over the Thanksgiving Weekend was a bad idea. People are posting who swaths of questions and it has yield this gem:

ArenaNet Team said:

Please try to post one question at a time so everyone gets a fair chance at having their question answered.

chris

Edited by MazingerZ, 26 November 2012 - 08:13 PM.

It's okay to enjoy crap if you're willing to admit it's crap.Every patch is like ArenaNet walking out onto the stage of the International Don't Kitten Up Championship, and then proceeding to shiv itself in the stomach 30 times while screaming "IT'S FOR YOUR OWN GOOD! IT'S FOR YOUR OWN GOOD!"

If anyone cares to help get the answers together here, it'd be appreciated.

Cloudgazer said:

Hey there, I’ve been a Guild Wars player since GW1 Beta, needless to say I’m a huge fan. With that in mind I just wanted to thank you and the rest of arena.net for providing me with so much content over the years and so many great experiences. It’s great that I’m not forced to pay in order to keep playing and I really appreciate that your team sticks to that principle. Anyway with that said I have a few questions for you.

I was one of the people who participated in the one time Karka event and ended up missing the end chest. Needless to say I was pretty disappointed. I know your team has mentioned plans to reward users who ran into these issues but I haven’t heard anything for a while on this. Do you have any update you could share?

Obviously you can’t say much about expansions but is there ANYTHING you’d be willing to share? A tidbit? A smidgen?

I have friends across multiple servers. Do you have plans

ArenaNet Team said:

HI Cloud,

Great to hear that you are enjoying the game and thanks for your support.I will answer one of your questions in order to keep enough time for the rest of the community:
1: We are still working on getting the Karka event reward out to those players who participated but missed out.

Chris

ArenaNet Team said:

Hey everyone: another note to re-iterate Chris's request: please ask ONE question in your post so that more people have a chance at getting their questions answered.

Thanks,

~Regina

Quote

I'll put my hat in the ring for an ascended gear question: Ascended gear clearly goes against a lot of the expectations of the game's oldest following; long-time fans of the original Guild Wars series who truly bought into the belief that you could make an MMO last without forcing players to log on every day to grind. Whatever people's beliefs are about whether ascended gear is a good thing or a bad thing, it's a different thing. On behalf of those of us who are quite put off by the introduction of ascended quality gear to the game, I have a few quick questions.

Will ascended by the last new gear level we see? Your statement on the forum said you aren't interested in adding a new gear tier every three months, but a lot of people were unsatisfied with that answer.

Will it become easier to obtain ascended gear in the future? Many people are unwilling to grind FoTM to obtain gear that they consider necessary to keep up with other aspects of PvE, especially considering what many now are considering the advent of gear grouping in GW2 (ie, people are only accepting players into parties if they meet a required level/gear level/etc, something that didn't really exist before).

ArenaNet Team said:

Hi Soc,

Thanks for taking the time to send in some questions. We do not believe we have gone against any of our principals, but we do understand the concern regarding potential grind. We absolutely design everything we do with minimal grind and will continue with this principal moving forward.

1: I would prefer that we never say never but our intention is that in terms of 'Named Tier (Rarity) of Loot' Ascended will be with us for a long time and we will not introduce a higher tier of loot for the foreseeable future. There will be loot with different stats and new infusions within the current tier that will be spread over long periods of time (for example Ascended gear will be deployed over the whole of next year). 2: Ascended gear will be obtainable throughout the whole of the game aside from sPvP and in retrospect it would have been better to have rolled different acquisition methods out at the smae time os the FotM.

Chris

Landeyda said:

Quote

Here’s what we believe: If someone wants to play for a thousand hours to get an item that is so rare that other players can’t realistically acquire it, that rare item should be differentiated by its visual appearance and rarity alone, not by being more powerful than everything else in the game. Otherwise, your MMO becomes all about grinding to get the best gear. We don’t make grindy games — we leave the grind to other MMOs.

That was the quote that sold a lot of people on Guild Wars 2. For years we waited for a game that would give us horizontal progression, not vertical progression. We were told that you were building the game around that.

Then, only a few short months after release, a new higher-stat gear grind was added. Why? Why cater to a sub-section of your playerbase who are cannot stop being, for lack of a better term, WoW-minded when it comes to progression? Why go back on your word to a loyal playerbase that supported you guys for so long?

Also, you stated there was a gap between Legendary and Exotic progression. There was no stat gap, so I can only assume you meant a time gap. But there was a filler -- unique Exotics that were harder to get than the normal, base ones. Please clarify what you meant by that gap.

Thank you.

Emphasis mine:

ArenaNet Team said:

Hi Landeyda,

Thanks for taking the time to post your questions. Mike O will respond to the top question and I will respond to the bottom section.

Ascended Gear is designed to fill the 'Time' gap in regard to the distance between exotic and Legendary in terms of progression and in retrospect would have been better to have been rolled out pre launch.

I would also like add that we have never said there would be no vertical progression. We do intent to focus on horizontal but we will have vertical progression moving forward with the focus on zero grind and a very low power curve.

Please understand that we see the community as a 'whole' and therefore are not intending to design again for one specific type of player over another. This is a misconception and one that is not promoted by the team. We will continue to develop the game for the community as a whole offering game play that caters to lots of different types of players in a unified approach that will evolve over time based on feedback and the direction the team as a whole wants to take.

chris

KuiShayna said:

What is your intention with Southsun Cove moving forward in terms of content and it counting towards map completion. also when is that fix for fractals coming?

ArenaNet Team said:

Hi Kui,

Thanks for taking the time to get in touch. We will be evolving and building on all or our content in the game and do plan to build on Southsun Cove in the near future. In regard to the fractal fix, we are working on a fix right now and i would like to take this opportunity to apologies for the issue.

It's okay to enjoy crap if you're willing to admit it's crap.Every patch is like ArenaNet walking out onto the stage of the International Don't Kitten Up Championship, and then proceeding to shiv itself in the stomach 30 times while screaming "IT'S FOR YOUR OWN GOOD! IT'S FOR YOUR OWN GOOD!"

The recent patch highlighted a split in two significant communities within GW2 - I won't claim which side represents what % of the total player base - just that each seems significant. One wants more vertical progression and ways the hardestcore can show off their accomplishments, and the other wants more horizontal progression and less hierarchy.

Does Anet really think they can satisfy both? I know the main philosophy of the Devs is to find a balance that makes the most happy, but I don't see this is possible when you have groups whose expectations are in such opposition.

ArenaNet Team said:

Hi Joiry,

Really interesting question. Our intention is to deploy ascended components and gear across the whole of the game rather than focus it in one particular location. This was a a mistake and one that we will not be making moving forward. We do hope to find a balance and ensure that the world of Guild Wars 2 is as accessible and populated as possible and moving forward you will be able to see how we intend to execute on this goal.

I think with the support of the community we can continue building a world that does satisfy lots of different types of players in a fashion where everyone feels part of the same community and whose activities impact and interplay with those of differing player types.

Chris

androidhorde said:

Is there a patch in the works addressing the numerous bugs and broken events riddled throughout the game (in addition to much-needed class buffs/balances)? I am thoroughly enjoying myself with Guild Wars 2, I just hate to see so much hard work and potential wasted due to neglected bugs.

ArenaNet Team said:

Hi Horde,

I totally get what you are saying and we are working very hard on not only addressing the bugs in the game, but building on new areas and trying to ensure that new content is as bug free as possible. This is very big ticket item for all of us, so in the same way as the work we did on bots you can expect to see big improvements soon.

Chris

Deathfish said:

Where's the love for WvW? Since the game has launched there's been tons of PvE changes/upgrades and same for sPvP. The only known changes/upgrades to WvW is the recent patch's change to loot drop rate (for the better, thankfully). Why is this? What can we expect as WvWvW dedicated players.

ArenaNet Team said:

Hi Deathfish,

We have a lot planned for WvW both in terms of current systems and new content and you can expect to hear a lot of new exciting details very soon. In short we have a lot of love for WvW and will continue to evolve it as we move forward.

Chris

nachoworkreddit said:

With regard to minimal Grind, how is going from 5 Ectos to 50 Ectos for a piece of gear minimal? 5 T6 items to 250 T6 items, minimal?

ArenaNet Team said:

Good point Nacho. We are currently discussing these particular items and it is fair to say that we don't want have such big hikes in requirements moving forward.

Chris

Lothair_9842 said:

Thanks Chris, although I don't agree with your answer it's nice of you to have addressed it. Saying that you design everything you do with minimal grind is obviously very subjective. 1800+ FoTM tokens or 250 T6 materials/50 Globs of Ectoplasm for 1 piece of equipment is a huge grind (in my humble opinion, of course).

ArenaNet Team said:

Hi Lothair,

Progression through tokens and mats is something we are having a good look at currently. Please keep the feedback coming as we move forward.

It's okay to enjoy crap if you're willing to admit it's crap.Every patch is like ArenaNet walking out onto the stage of the International Don't Kitten Up Championship, and then proceeding to shiv itself in the stomach 30 times while screaming "IT'S FOR YOUR OWN GOOD! IT'S FOR YOUR OWN GOOD!"

Thanks for the hard work on this thread! It certainly makes it 1000x easier to read the only parts we care about as opposed to a million questions that are all ignored.

"I would also like add that we have never said there would be no vertical progression. We do intent to focus on horizontal but we will have vertical progression moving forward with the focus on zero grind and a very low power curve."
...that should get a few people talking.

I really enjoy the idea of one-time events to reveal new content... but when it's major stuff like a new map, I would prefer to see those events drawn out over quite a few days, so I have some hope of participating. This presents its own kinds of challenges, of course. What's the team's thoughts on how to go forward with introducing new map areas?

One thing I find missing in GW2 these days is the non-combat items. Clothing &amp; other ornaments are a perfect example. New areas could bring along with them the opportunity for not just new types of loot, food &amp; resources to gather, but also vendors that cater to the local style. Do you see much chance for this, going forward?

I could go on and on about bosses and AI/difficulty/etc, but that's probably for a different post.

Thanks for your time and attention!

ArenaNet Team said:

Hi Storm,

Thanks for your question. We are very aware over the concerns raised over the timing and one time nature of the Karka event. Moving forward we will be paying special attention to how we design these events to be as inclusive as possible.

Chris

Going along with the live blog nature of this posting... I'm going to say that the two comments at the top, with the most upvotes and over a dozen questions... are being ignored. Just pointing it out.

Kreindis said:

What games do you like to play besides Guild Wars 2?

ArenaNet Team said:

Hi Kreindis,

I like to play all kinds of games. My favorites are Online Worlds and RTS games and I am currently playing (sparingly as i don't get much time) Forza Horizon, X- Com, Halo 4 and a lot of Guild Wars 2.

My favorite game of all time is Mario 64.

Chris

There it is. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ The vanity question.

I'd like to point out that we're nearing the end of the lunch hour at ArenaNet, and with this question, I expect to see a closing statement soon. I could be wrong though.

...And I was wrong!

miniatureian said:

As an MMO, you are trying to please a huge player base. Some play a few hours a month while others stop playing to sleep for a few hours every day. Reward rates seem to be balanced for those who play constantly. This disparagy causes casual players to play a very different game from the hardcore. What are some ideas to keep the player base from fracturing?

ArenaNet Team said:

This is an extremely interesting question and as you know the path down the road for a solution is highly complex. In fact myself and Mo were discussing this this morning. So please forgive me if my answer is somewhat lite or comes across as deflective but i would prefer the surroundings of a pub or meeting room to really get into this one.

However:

I think online worlds are amazing in that they house different societies or player types if you like. I think it is only natural for players to gravitate to those who they feel are like minded, and i think it is also only natural and in some ways quite healthy to have a macro society or community that doesn't always agree with one another. I think that diversity is exciting but it can also fragment so a method in which different groups of players work with others in synergy each enjoying their own diverse game play that is rewarding because of the game play is certainly a step in the right direction. Reading this statement you will no doubt be thinking that the FotM doesn't utilize this philosophy and you would be correct. Moving forward progression and rewards will be inter woven appropriately into the core systems and social aspects of the game, allowing the diverse societies or player types to work together by playing the content that they love.

So in short something that is universally enjoyable as a progression system or a reward should be as accessible as possible and cater to the different ways our players consume the game but in a manner in which the Community of the world as a whole is contributing to each others overall experience.

If you would like to talk further then pm me and we can discuss in game.

chris

Tyrjala said:

Hey Chris, thanks for coming. My question is about home instances and personal story. From your promo material prior to release I was led to believe these would be key features in pve. As of release, it seems like these, specifically home instances, have been largely ignored.

The pitch on how awesome home instaces would be: pve progression via characters and things added to your personal world, was the reason I bought this game. Are there plans to bring these features in line with the marketing material or is your game focus going to be primarily dungeons and pvp (both things I don't care for).

ArenaNet Team said:

Hi Tyrjala,

Thanks for taking the time to post your question. Both personal story and home instances are ares that i wish we had spent more time on already in terms of content since release. However we will be building on them as we move forward and would love to hear more of your thoughts in regard to the direction you would like to see them move in. In short you can expect to see big things.

Chris

Stepping away ftm. Will be back to check on the AMA.

Back

idredd said:

Could we have a clear answer on where vertical progression is headed in the future of GW2. What prompted the change in philosophy from launch to the Lost Shores update with regard to end game gear and will there be an amendment to the game's design manifesto from here out?

ArenaNet Team said:

Hi Idredd,

Thanks for taking the time to post your question.

I will try to be as clear as possible:

We do not intend to deploy another tier/rarity of loot such as Rare>Exotic. However we also do not intend to make promises that can be misinterpreted moving forward.

Ascended Gear will be introduced throughout next year,and accessible through many game play activities rather than just on. -Through infusions and existing Tiers there will be the opportunity to increase stats or abilities on a low power curve through multiple types of gameplay in GW2.

The opportunity to enhance existing tiers of loot will not be through a regular cadence of monthly updates instead it is more likely to come from expansions or very big drops of content.

In retrospect Ascended should have been deployed pre launch and earn able throughout most activities in the game (which is how we are moving forward).

I believe there has been no change to our philosophy regarding end game gear. We have learnt lessons for sure which is one of the main advantages of a live game and no doubt we will learn lessons moving forward. This does not however dilute our commitment to create a pioneering, accessible and fun world for players as we continue to build out GW2. And we very much rely on your and the communities feedback as we execute on these philosophy.

It's okay to enjoy crap if you're willing to admit it's crap.Every patch is like ArenaNet walking out onto the stage of the International Don't Kitten Up Championship, and then proceeding to shiv itself in the stomach 30 times while screaming "IT'S FOR YOUR OWN GOOD! IT'S FOR YOUR OWN GOOD!"

We do not believe we have gone against any of our principals, but we do understand the concern regarding potential grind. We absolutely design everything we do with minimal grind and will continue with this principal moving forward.

What I'm getting from his statements, and I could be reading what I want to into them, so grain of salt: they never said there would be no vertical progression. They intend to pursue vertical progression at a glacial pace, using ascended items, which will be the highest tier for the foreseeable future. They realize that making ascended available solely via FotM was a mistake and intend to make components available throughout the game/from multiple playstyles.

So, in essence, there is grind for the best stats on an extra slow treadmill-anything you do repetitively could be considered grind-but it's "not grind" in that you get to grind how you want to.

That's my perception, anyway. Anyone else care to chime in?

Also, there's nothing to be gained by not reading, the least we can do is let ANet have their say, then respond. You don't want to go all Two Minutes Hate without the best possible appraisal of the situation, do you?

Going along with the live blog nature of this posting... I'm going to say that the two comments at the top, with the most upvotes and over a dozen questions... are being ignored. Just pointing it out.

I would probably ignore the guy who asked 50 questions as well. Seriously, it's just common courtesy to not treat it like a 1-on-1 interview and ask ONE question. Or a few if they're closely related. Somebody would've had to spend an hour typing out answers to all of those, assuming they didn't have to think much over what they're typing.

Actually, I would've probably answered with exactly that and then replied to similar questions elsewhere in the thread if I saw them. But since this is Anet, they'll just keep repeating that there's no gear inflation, no grind, and everyone should calm down.

I would probably ignore the guy who asked 50 questions as well. Seriously, it's just common courtesy to not treat it like a 1-on-1 interview and ask ONE question. Or a few if they're closely related. Somebody would've had to spend an hour typing out answers to all of those, assuming they didn't have to think much over what they're typing.

Actually, I would've probably answered with exactly that and then replied to similar questions elsewhere in the thread if I saw them. But since this is Anet, they'll just keep repeating that there's no gear inflation, no grind, and everyone should calm down.

I agree it violates the nature of the format, but the fact that the community considers those important questions is rather telling on how well their communication with the community is going. The best thing to do would be to acknowledge the questions, say that they will be answered post-AMA, and say that you are going to move forward with the format. And then actually answering them later.

It's okay to enjoy crap if you're willing to admit it's crap.Every patch is like ArenaNet walking out onto the stage of the International Don't Kitten Up Championship, and then proceeding to shiv itself in the stomach 30 times while screaming "IT'S FOR YOUR OWN GOOD! IT'S FOR YOUR OWN GOOD!"

What I'm getting from his statements, and I could be reading what I want to into them, so grain of salt: they never said there would be no vertical progression. They intend to pursue vertical progression at a glacial pace, using ascended items, which will be the highest tier for the foreseeable future. They realize that making ascended available solely via FotM was a mistake and intend to make components available throughout the game/from multiple playstyles.

So, in essence, there is grind for the best stats on an extra slow treadmill-anything you do repetitively could be considered grind-but it's "not grind" in that you get to grind how you want to.

That's my perception, anyway. Anyone else care to chime in?

I'll chime. I think you're exactly right. Glacial - but still vertical - progression. No more single-target grinds for progression in the future, though. And the absolute best I've ever seen this summed up: "we don't do grind" actually means "you can grind the way you want to grind." That is so much more accurate than anything they've ever said about grind I can't believe they've never said that before.

I think we could be understanding of the vagueness behind some of his statements. This guy is speaking on behalf of his company, and a lot of people will be watching his responses. The less he says, the less angry people (and there are a lot of those) will be able to use against him. The other thing is that depending on some of those questions are phrased, it is difficult to actually answer. The details about whether or not Anet will draw the line at Ascended gear, for instance - it might be reasonable to say that they themselves don't know.

Yes, it looks like a simple "yes" or "no" answer, but the consequences behind answering it will be severe no matter how he phrases it. That's why so much of the stuff is circular. Would I prefer that they just come out and say something? Sure, but not if it's something they don't know, don't want to divulge, or something that might be polarizing to the community.

Could we afford to wait to get an answer? I think that depends on the person. Some of us are naturally more patient than others.

Hi Chris, just wanted to say that yall at ANet are the beez kneez! love the game and the awesome content _^ wish there were more "hey-sayers" speaking up out there cause i know there are plenty of them that absolutely love the game! haters be hatin...

ArenaNet Team said:

Hi Beezy,

That's really nice to hear. we are glad you are having fun and thanks for the feedback. You guys rock!

Chris

Vanity post #2

And that's it! I think.

Okay, I was wrong and I'm going to stop anticipating the end.

shimpchimp said:

As an Asura I feel that the weapon sizing is underwhelming, are there plans to look at this? Thank you!

ArenaNet Team said:

There are certainly plans to have a look at that now and discuss it internally. Thanks for your feedback Shimp.

Chris

plaidverb said:

Are there any plans to standardize how information is disseminated to players?

I think that a lot of the recent drama could have been abated somewhat by giving direct statements to the players, rather than leaking incomplete information to third-party sites.

This AMA is great, but it's a few weeks late.

ArenaNet Team said:

Hi Plaid,

I agree whole heatedly and this is something we have and are continuing to have multiple discussions about.

Chris

Edited by MazingerZ, 26 November 2012 - 09:34 PM.

It's okay to enjoy crap if you're willing to admit it's crap.Every patch is like ArenaNet walking out onto the stage of the International Don't Kitten Up Championship, and then proceeding to shiv itself in the stomach 30 times while screaming "IT'S FOR YOUR OWN GOOD! IT'S FOR YOUR OWN GOOD!"

Looks like Chris is going to get to the two top comments after all! After a break... Power to the people!

SamuraiJakkass86 said:

Elephants (In The Room):

E1: Can we get a direct, on-the-record answer on where vertical progression will be headed? Specifically as it applies to gear-checks, gated content, and the addition of gear tiers? Will there be an amendment to the manifesto, or plans to retro-actively align with the manifesto again?

E2:Ascended gears are making a lot of people worry about an ever-increasing gear treadmill. Many players did not want the exotic/legendary system to change, and they don't like ascended gears. Was this expected? Can this be something fixed in a painless way? Can it happen?

E3:How will future events be handled in regards to timing? Oceanic players are upset that the one-time-only events were skewed to arguably unfavorable times for them, and that many didn't get to participate.

E4:Can we expect to see other additions of tiered gears after ascended? Or have we finally set a hard baseline?

E5:With ascended gears only being available at FOTM - is it intended that players wishing to be at their best in WvW will have to first tune themselves with fractal rewards?

E6:Fractals have become the end-all for making your character stronger. Players are vanishing from maps everywhere to grind grind grind for the now-strongest items they can get ahold of. It's disruptive to the community, the fun, and the manifesto. What is being done about this?

E7:No one likes Trahearne. He's a spotlight stealing salad-head and when do we get to kill him?

E8:The agony system (as well as any other monster-only conditions added in the future) seems to encourage grinding for hard-to-get gears as opposed to skill-based progression promised in the manifesto, will this be remedied in the future?

E9:There are no ways to repair inside of fractals aside from cash shop items, providing an inherent advantage to people who pay for advantages. Can this be fixed?

E10:With the growing empty-map-syndrome, are there processes in development to get players back into the non-80 maps?

Player Development (Where do we go now?):

PD1: GW1 had hundreds of skills for each of it's classes. Can we expect skill additions for GW2 as well? If so, will they only be added in expansions? Are there plans to add them with major non-expansion content updates?

PD2: What is ANet's position on the current implementation of trait trees? Can we expect any overhauls to the implementation of the system?

PD3: A lot of professions have skills that no one wants to use (thief and ranger traps as an example). Are there plans on replacing or sprucing these up to make them more useful (being able to lay down 3 traps instead of 1 would be nice!)

PD4: What are the current plans for adding more usable weapon types & weapon/profession combinations in the future? Do you have any weapons (other then the previously addressed battle-axe type) that you're willing to share with us?

PD5: Less and less people are interested in running story-modes, which is hurting new players. What plans are there to fix this? Increasing the replayability value for players who have already run it as an example?

Specific Requests (We'd like these things):

SR1: Can we get a wardrobe system for PVE (similar to the SPVP)? Transmutation stones are clunky to use; they prevent players from changing gears (stagnant styles); and it requires A LOT of storage space to store soul-bound looks. Unlike the SPVP wardrobe, this one should be per-character (so that you don't unlock gear styles for all your characters and take the replay-ability out of content).

SR2: Can we get decreased waypoint transportation costs? We understand that they are a money-sink, but they are also demotivating towards exploring the world.

SR3: Can we get direct free transportation to Lion's Arch? The current way of going through the Mists is simply more loading screens than a lot of players want to deal with.

SR4: Can we get 'underflow servers' to consolidate multiple servers with under-populated maps? It could be like; player walks into empty/low-pop map, receives prompt “an underflow is available, would you like to join it?”

SR5: Can we get a method for changing character hair styles/skin color/hair color/underwear color? If so, will it be free or a cash shop item?

SR6: Can you remove the repair costs associated with dying in WvW? And reduce the costs of dying in dungeons (both story and exploration)?

SR7: Can we get a player test server in the future?

SR8: Can we get a more visible cursor? During large/animated fights like large bosses or WvW battles, the cursor tends to get lost in the colors & spell effects.

SR9: Can we get color-blind support for players who have issues distinguishing red/green AoE circles on the ground?

SR10: Can you give NPC’s in storymode dungeons a ‘downed state’ as opposed to an insta-defeated state?

SR11: We would like to make a choice on weapon skills, even between weapons we already have. Instead of say, 5 skills for a 2-handed weapon and 3 for a 1handed (or 2 for offhand) - how about 8 for a 2-hander (we have to choose 5), 5 for a 1 hander, and 3 for an off-hand? This would allow us more personalization/customization without nullifying the fact that the process of unlocking weapon skills is ultimately pointless..

SR12: Can we enable the option to turn off the auto-floating camera while downed/dead? It’s quite annoying that we have to keep reminding it to stop twirling around.

SR13:Can we have the weapon size of daggers/pistols/focuses (other tiny weapons) increased for Asura? There isn’t really a point to even getting weapon styles as a pistol/dagger/focus user since you can’t even see them.

SR14:Can we get a “Change display name” option for our accounts? Cash shop or otherwise?

Follow-Ups (Status Updates):

FO1: Can we get some metrics on the games population? How many people are actively playing? Is it lower/higher than at launch?

FO2: What's the current state of guesting? When can we expect to be able to try it out?

FO3: Player housing/guild halls - are these being actively worked on?

FO4: Can we get more details on the legendary pre-cursor scavenger events?

FO5: When will we be able to preview items in the TP?

FO6: What is the status on allowing ‘re-join’ for disconnected members of fractals and other dungeons?

FO7: What are the plans for compensating players who were unable to get Lost Shores event rewards even though they participated?

FO8:Is gear-clipping ever going to be remedied? People don’t like their characters heads being forcefully shaved to wear helmets and witches hats!

FO9: Now that dungeon queue’ing (sans fractals) has been fixed for players, and LFG is in the works - are there intentions of correcting the awfulness of a dungeon leader quitting the group (i.e. booting everyone out of the dungeon)?

PR6:Are ranger pets going to get a survivability buff? Also, according to the wiki on pets, bears far outclass any of the other pets - are there plans to normalize pet stats?

PR7:Can we get a "shut off ranger pet" option, as opposed to a temporary stow? They come out when we take fall damage, and its usually when we've previously shut them off because we don't want them out. This includes things like jumping puzzles, making videos or taking screenshots rapidly.

PR8:A lot of elementalists liked 'Evasive Arcana' having a blast finisher. Can you bring it back?

PR9:What do you guys think of an idea for ranger pets, that involves customization, personalization, and possibly an evolution of different utilities? Maybe the pets grow, and either learn new skills, or their skills become more specialized?

PR10:Can we get ranger pet names to stick to the pets, rather than having their names default when you switch them?

PR11:What are ANet’s thoughts on the current incarnation of Stealth? Are there any changes to it in the forseeable future?

PR12:General profession bug updates; when can we expect those to take a high priority? Many players just want to see “ONE BIG PATCH” where all the bugs are fixed, without any added content, just to set the benchamark of functionality!

Support/Community (Forums/Communication):

SC1: Profession specific forums are disconnected from Anet. This is exemplified with the lack of official response from Anet to any of the profession forums. Can we have more & more frequent contact/participtation from Anet here? A lot of times, discussions on bugs, improvements, additions, go unnoticed, and these sections of the community usually, and genuinely – are out to present improvements to the game that they would like to be acknowledged for.

SC2: With the start of the new “State of the Game/SPvP Tournaments” Johnathan Sharp is starting at the end of the month, and this AMA; can the playerbase get more involved with the development of the game? Something like “Voice of the Player” or “Submit your ideas” events on the forums with participation from the devs would be an amazing way to connect with the community, as well as get a temperature reading on what players are asking for.

Crafting & Gears:

CG1: As it currently stands; there are 3 legendary greatswords, and 1 of every other item type. How is the handling of other added legendary weapons going to go in the future?

CG2: What other methods are going to be available for obtaining ascended gears?

CG3: What are the chances of decreasing the amount of dungeon/rng grinding in order to obtain on ascended/legendary/exotic gears?

CG4: With the addition of ascended gears, are there any intentions to update crafting professions to be able to craft the higher-tiered gears at some point (ascended gears and maybe legendaries?). As it is right now, with exotics being the highest craftable tier, it will be oudated when the launch of the rest of the ascended set items come into existence.

CG5: Are there any plans for legendary back items?

CG6: You previously stated that there was a gap between exotic and legendary weapons that needs to be addressed; what does that mean?

CG7: Will future content be balanced around exotic or ascended/legendary stats?

CG8: Will ascended gear drops be obtainable in WvW/Open world content?

CG9: Any plans for new town clothing? How about weapon dyes?

CG10: Can we get karma-purchasable cultural gears, and not just gold purchasable?

CG11: Can you remove the 'ascended tier' from the game?

CG12: Why do NPC’s (weaponsmiths/armorsmiths) sell crappy gears even after the starting zone?

CG13:Magic Find Gears. Are there any plans to either disable this in dungeon groups, or to provide its benefits to the party as a whole?

The Future (Updates/Expansions/Events):

TF1: It's been previously stated that old content will receive new updates as content is released. What are the plans for updating maps like Orr, where they are seen more of as an “annoyance” then a "challenge"?

TF2: Will there be an increase to the level cap with new expansions?

TF3: Will we see more playable races with each expansion?

TF4: Will we see more playable professions with each expansion?

TF5: Tengu, Kodan and Largos – will/when will they be playable?

TF6: Cantha/Elona – will/when will they be explorable?

TF7: Aside from Halloween and Winter-festivities, what other holiday-based events can we expect (st. patricks day? new years? summer solstice?)

TF8: What steps are being taken to ensure that the lag/bug issues with the last two events does not happen in events moving forward?

TF9: With the implementation of Fractals. What are the plans to get players back out into the world again?

TF12:Can we get, or are there plans - for implementing more face/hair/beard styles? Also, why the lack of colorful hair options (even for Asura!)

WvW (The Anonymouse Kill-Fest!):

W1: What's the progress on improving player culling?

W2: We have 3 maps in the borderlines that are the 99% exact same. Any plans on making these unique from each other to spice things up?

W3: Money has become the most powerful asset in WvW. Whether a server is dominating or being dominated depends entirely on how much money each side is willing to spend. Are there plans for bringing the core assets of a successful server, mainly; good leadership, skillful players and strategy - back into the limelight?

W5: With the increasing stats on gears, are there plans on normalizing it for WvW to keep it balanced?

W6: Is Guild vs. Guild vs. Guild (or some incarnation of this concept) something ANet has considered doing in the future? If so, has there been any movement on it?

SPvP (Autobalance FTL!):

S1: Are there any future plans for new game modes aside from "capture the point"? Battle royale, free for all, last man standing?

S2: The people have spoken, we want spectator mode. You guys said before that all it would take to get started on it was enough people to say they wanted it! So how is development of spectator mode coming along?

S3: Also, where are the leaderboards???

S4: Also important! Where's our dueling feature??

ArenaNet Team said:

Hi Samurai,

I am going to take a quick break then answer one of your questions at a time then go pick another and come back to this list. Time permitting i will try to get as many done as possible.

Chris

If he's taking a break, so am I. I'll hopefully catch it, but I'm not going to refresh the page like mad.

Note to self. Build script that can hit Reddit during AMAs and compile summaries.

Edited by MazingerZ, 26 November 2012 - 09:48 PM.

It's okay to enjoy crap if you're willing to admit it's crap.Every patch is like ArenaNet walking out onto the stage of the International Don't Kitten Up Championship, and then proceeding to shiv itself in the stomach 30 times while screaming "IT'S FOR YOUR OWN GOOD! IT'S FOR YOUR OWN GOOD!"

So as a GW1 fan who very much loved that I was able to keep the same level 20 armor for 7 years this AMA pretty much told me that I'll no longer play the PVE side of GW2 if they consider the grind they've put in is "minimal grind" and that they intend on more vertical progression.

At least now the apologists in this forum can no longer claim that Ascendent gear is the absolute end of vertical progression in this game.

E1: Can we get a direct, on-the-record answer on where vertical progression will be headed? Specifically as it applies to gear-checks, gated content, and the addition of gear tiers? Will there be an amendment to the manifesto, or plans to retro-actively align with the manifesto again?

Emphasis mine...

ArenaNet Team said:

Right i am back. Thanks for being so patient. I intend to answer questions well into the night so please bear with me.

E1: Can we get a direct, on-the-record answer on where vertical progression will be headed? Specifically as it applies to gear-checks, gated content, and the addition of gear tiers? Will there be an amendment to the manifesto, or plans to retro-actively align with the manifesto again?

First of all in retrospect it would have been better to have included Ascended Gear at launch. It is designed to give users a progression path that is between Exotic and Legendary (Legendary Items will be at the same power level as Ascended) and the gap between them in terms of time is very large.

So to the question of vertical progression. So as we know there is already vertical progression in the game and we do intend to keep moving forward with this philosophy. However we have no intention of adding a new Rarity of Gear such as Ascended. Instead and as we evolve the game existing Rarity's will evolve over time. However these will not be common occurrences, for example full Ascended gear will be introduced over a long period of time and will be earn able through lots of different parts/activities of the game. We had intended for example for the first release of acsended items come from other parts of the game but sadly it did not work out this way. Moving forward this is how it will work however.

In regard to gear checks specifically all increases in the power curve will be minimal and therefore there should be no straying from the intended power curve that you see in the game now, in terms of trajectory.

In regard to gated content via gear then i think that this is something we are going to give more thought to. Specifically if the reward at the end of the activity applies to players that are not just looking to do a specific type of content. Note that this statement is somewhat contradictory to the philosophy laid out above if the required items do not drop elsewhere or the ultimate rewards don't either. This is something we are going to fix.

Personally i do not feel that the latest changes are against what we said in the manifesto. I do however feel that we do have to be very careful in regard to progression design turning into grind and i believe there are some instances of this kind of grind that predate the launch of the game. It is for this reason that we are looking to revamp some aspects of the game whilst connecting other parts increase the overall experience of fun in our progression mechanics.

ok so there is one answer (-: I am going to head over to another question and then come back. Thanks for your patience and any typos.

Chris

... I may need some help.

AlietteFaye said:

With the addition of the new Ascended gear, you have also created a massive shift in the demand for Ectoplasms (among other T6 materials.) The price has skyrocketed, both due to bots being banned as well as the new gear. Were you guys expecting this? Also, will you be doing anything to bring the prices back to a reasonable price?

Emphasis mine

ArenaNet Team said:

This is a reply from John Smith, ArenaNet's economist:

We did expect the change in price of Ectos and it was intended. Bots had artificially suppressed the prices of many high end items making late game farming for legitimate players less effective than we wanted. With the fractal dungeon we introduce available ways to earn Ectos and other high end items for use or profit to keep the price from going up too fast.

This smells to me.

Edited by MazingerZ, 26 November 2012 - 10:19 PM.

It's okay to enjoy crap if you're willing to admit it's crap.Every patch is like ArenaNet walking out onto the stage of the International Don't Kitten Up Championship, and then proceeding to shiv itself in the stomach 30 times while screaming "IT'S FOR YOUR OWN GOOD! IT'S FOR YOUR OWN GOOD!"

Obviously the key phrase I’m going to point you to in that quote is, “if someone wants to play for a thousand hours to get an item that is so rare that other players can’t realistically acquire it”. That really is the litmus test we’ve used. That’s why, at ship, we gave better stats to exotic gear and didn’t give better stats to legendary gear.

More generally, I hope we’ve been clear that GW2 is not a game with virtually no stat progression in it like GW1 was. That’s why GW2 shipped with a higher level cap, and with a hard separation between PvE and PvP. In GW1 we never advanced the level cap through four campaigns/expansions. The game design didn’t allow for it. But GW2 was designed without those restrictions, and we’ve always expected that we will someday raise the level cap in GW2.

That’s why we’ve always said that GW2 rewards players through both progression and collection, whereas GW1 primarily rewarded through collection. Presumably players aren’t shocked that GW2 rewards through progression, since it has a level 80 cap.

I wonder if the core sentiment is more this: It’s only been two-and-a-half months! We don’t even all have exotics yet, and already you’re introducing another tier. Is this the start of a power progression curve that I’ll never be able to keep up with?

I certainly appreciate that worry. I myself don’t want a constant struggle, as exists in some other games, to keep my equipment viable.

Then we’re left with a balancing act. Some progression is ok, but pushing players onto gear treadmill isn’t ok and isn’t what the game is about.

So I would ask you to judge us by details, and not by making slippery-slope arguments. We introduced a ton of new content in November, and the sum total of new progression rewards we added to go with it provided a 5-10% stat increase in 2 of 12 slots. I hope you’ll agree that that kind of very shallow and gradual progression does not force people onto a gear treadmill.

I think it’s important for GW2 to be able to have this kind of gradual progression. Of course we made some mistakes with the way we introduced ascended gear. (See ChrisW’s answers for details.) But those are addressable issues. I don’t think they invalidate the fundamental concept that GW2 can have gradual stat progression without being a gear treadmill game.

ChairGraveyard said:

How can you even say this with a straight face? I'm not even joking. That is a serious question. How can you say that with a straight face?

It requires 300 ectos and a TON of other materials to make a single fully-upgraded Ascended piece.

That is not "minimal grind".

THIS TYPE OF RESPONSE IS NOT HELPING YOUR CREDIBILITY!

ArenaNet Team said:

Hi Chair,

Thanks for taking the time to post and put forward your feedback.

The requirements for some of these items are currently under review as are certain items/areas that were released on launch. Personally i feel that aspects of the game ARE too grindy and we are working through these areas to correct our overall direction moving forward as well as taking some of our current progression systems and rewiring them for want of a better term for example different methods of acquisition related to the way different players like to play their content.

To be frank the ascended gear was designed to be earn able outside of the FotM and unfortunately we were unable to deploy this prior to the update. This (i hope) will not happen again.

At the end of the day we want to make fun content for all of our different player types to enjoy, in which they can earn the same rewards as other types of players, through activities they enjoy playing the most. This is not PR this is a fact. It is an extremely complex and exciting design goal that we aim to achieve with the help of our community.

Chris

Edited by MazingerZ, 26 November 2012 - 10:29 PM.

It's okay to enjoy crap if you're willing to admit it's crap.Every patch is like ArenaNet walking out onto the stage of the International Don't Kitten Up Championship, and then proceeding to shiv itself in the stomach 30 times while screaming "IT'S FOR YOUR OWN GOOD! IT'S FOR YOUR OWN GOOD!"